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The <keyword id="21388035" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chess-community" source="keywords">chess community</keyword> went into a frenzy as it hailed India's D <keyword id="19905851" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gukesh" source="keywords">Gukesh</keyword> as a potential "future world champion" after he etched his name in the history books by winning the prestigious Candidates tournament in Toronto. Gukesh drew with American Hikaru Nakamura in the final round to not only win the prestigious tournament but also become the youngest ever challenger to the world title at 17. <br /><br /> Five-time world champion and the only other Indian to win the Candidates, the legendary <keyword id="20221790" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Viswanathan-Anand" source="keywords">Viswanathan Anand</keyword> was one of the first people to congratulate the teenager. <br /><br /> "Congratulations to @DGukesh for becoming the youngest challenger. The @WacaChess family is so proud of what you have done. I'm personally very proud of how you played and handled tough situations. Enjoy the moment," Anand wrote on 'X'. <br /><br /> Gukesh had become the third youngest player in history to earn the Grandmaster title at the age of 12 and English grandmaster David Howell said he knew the prodigiously talented player would go on to do great things from the moment he played his first match against the Indian. <br /><br /> "Congrats to Gukesh on winning the Candidates!! What a tournament I knew he was special ever since our first game. He was just 12 years old (but already a GM! ) While analysing, both his mature attitude and his calculation skills impressed me hugely. Future world champ?" Howell wrote. <br /><br /> Former world champion and Grandmaster <keyword id="21388036" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vladimir-Kramnik" source="keywords">Vladimir Kramnik</keyword> of Russia congratulated Gukesh for his astounding performance. <br /><br /> "What an evening Congratulations to Gukesh and special award for both Fabi, Ian for their incredible performance today. One of the most interesting games I ever saw. Bravo, REAL FIGHTERS, for giving it all. Most important, more than anything in chess in fact Full respect," Kramnik wrote. <br /><br /> With the win, Gukesh bettered the legendary Garry Kasparov's 40 year-old record. The Russian great was 22 when he qualified in 1984 to clash with compatriot Anatoly Karpov. <br /><br /> The Chennai-based teen will take on reigning world champion, China's <keyword id="20216378" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ding-Liren" source="keywords">Ding Liren</keyword>, for the crown later this year. <br /><br /> Indian grandmaster Koneru Humpy, who finished second in the women's section, said "Congratulations to @DGukesh for becoming the youngest challenger!!" <br /><br /> Another Indian Grandmaster Tania Sachdev said Gukesh's win shows that "furture is here." <br /><br /> "GUKESH WINS THE CANDIDATES!! The future is here. It's today. 22.04.2024 a date to remember It's going to be Ding Liren vs Gukesh, World Chess Championship 2024" Sachdev tweeted. <br /><br /> Dronacharya award-winning coach Ramachandran Ramesh lauded the Indian's inspiring run at the tournament. <br /><br /> "Hearty Congratulations to young @Gukesh for convincingly winning the Candidates. Inspiring performance! Whole India is proud of you!" Ramesh tweeted. <br /><br /> Meanwhile, Azerbaijani chess grandmaster Teimour Radjabov was left spellbound by the teenager's achievement. <br /><br /> "@DGukesh congratulations, stunning! At any age, but at 17 years old... it is just WOW!" he wrote.<br /><br /><b>SEE ALSO:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/sports/webstories/at-17-indian-chess-prodigy-d-gukesh-becomes-youngest-challenger-for-world-championship/slidelist/109492021.cms" target="_blank"></a></b><br /><br /> <b><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/sports/webstories/at-17-indian-chess-prodigy-d-gukesh-becomes-youngest-challenger-for-world-championship/slidelist/109492021.cms" target="_blank">At 17, Indian chess prodigy D Gukesh becomes youngest challenger for World Championship</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/telecom-companies-may-hike-tariffs-by-up-to-17-after-the-general-elections-as-per-analysts/articleshow/109240274.cms" target="_blank"></a></b><br /><br /> <b><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/telecom-companies-may-hike-tariffs-by-up-to-17-after-the-general-elections-as-per-analysts/articleshow/109240274.cms" target="_blank">Telecom companies may hike tariffs by up to 17% after the general elections, predict analysts</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/ev-sales-expected-to-grow-by-over-65-in-2024-double-its-overall-market-share/articleshow/109155691.cms" target="_blank"></a></b><br /><br /> <b><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/ev-sales-expected-to-grow-by-over-65-in-2024-double-its-overall-market-share/articleshow/109155691.cms" target="_blank">EV sales expected to grow by over 65% in 2024, double its overall market share</a></b><br />

The future is here: Chess community lauds Gukesh's historic win

<p class="drop-cap">There is a singular misery to trying your very best, after months of training, only to be crushed by a 6-year-old.</p><p>Last December, I spent a cloudy day holed up at the Mechanics' Institute, a venerable chess club in San Francisco, to play in the 22nd annual McClain Memorial Tournament. It was my first in-person chess competition, and I was full of optimism.</p><p>I faced a severe-looking child who wore a food-stained sweatshirt emblazoned with a cartoon penguin. He did not speak. He alternated between fidgeting uncontrollably and fixing me with a disconcerting death stare. He spent much of his time between moves crawling around beneath the table (an interesting psych-out technique, but not one I think I could pull off).</p><p>Early in the game, I made an amateur mistake that left me down a knight. From there it was all over, even if I didn't immediately realize it. A checkmate soon followed.</p><p>My first game had been against a middle-aged asset manager, and we'd discussed the strangeness of us adults competing against children. (He also beat me.) After an undignified lunch of Doritos and a chocolate protein shake, I managed to eke out a win against my third opponent. A tech worker in her mid-20s, she noted she was nursing a severe hangover, and she had a helpful habit of involuntarily gasping whenever she realized she'd made a mistake. At that point, I'd take whatever modicum of dignity I could salvage.</p><p>For the first three decades of my life, I'd had fleeting phases of mild interest in chess, playing the occasional game online while procrastinating or over the board with a drink. But the game's foreboding density and association with supreme intellect dissuaded me from going any deeper. Over the past few years, however, a drumbeat of fanfare and tabloid headlines about the seemingly staid game became inescapable. Like so many other people, I got chess-pilled.</p><p>Chess.com, the world's leading chess site, now regularly reports record numbers of players — it said that in February 2023 it hosted more than 1 billion games a month — sporadically crashing under the weight of demand. The pandemic's enforced isolation and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-netflix-is-changing-the-entertainment-industry-2021-8">Netflix's</a> smash hit "The Queen's Gambit" collectively introduced an entire generation to the game. Socialites are playing chess on "The Real Housewives of New York City." Twitch streamers and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-started-with-youtube-podcasts-build-an-audience-2024-5">YouTubers</a> have racked up millions of followers and ushered in a radical new culture — meme-drenched, rapid-fire, and drama-prone.</p><p>Chess has never been more popular, but its ugly side has also never been more exposed. The same characteristics that have driven its popularity online — an easy-to-understand eight-by-eight grid, a strategy without chance or luck — have also made it a cheater's paradise. Meanwhile, rampant sexism festers at chess' heart.</p><p>What the hell was happening to the game of kings? To find out, I decided I needed to get better at the game and face off against everyone I talked to.</p><p class="drop-cap">In 1990, when Judit Polgár, the greatest female chess player, was emerging as a child prodigy, the world champion Garry Kasparov dismissed her as "after all, a woman."</p><p>"It all comes down to the imperfections of the feminine psyche," he said. "No woman can sustain a prolonged battle."</p><p>Sexism persists in every level of the game. In 1990, according to the US Chess Federation, only 4% of chess players were women. Today it's 14%. There are innumerable tales of how women were belittled, mistreated, harassed, and abused — from snide remarks about "losing to a girl" at a chess club to sexist comments during online play. Juliana Gallin, a graphic designer in San Francisco, told me before a game on Chess.com (she wiped the floor with me) that she had deliberately omitted any references to her gender in her online profile. Even at professional tournaments, many women say commentators and audiences sometimes fixate on their appearances and clothes rather than the quality of their chess. FIDE, the <a target="_blank" href="https://ethics.fide.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/New-EDC-Procedural-Rules-as-approved-by-FIDE-Council.pdf">international chess body</a>, requires anyone wishing to make a misconduct complaint to first pay a fee of 75 euros.</p>          <p>In 2023, the chess world had its own #MeToo moment. It started when the grandmaster Jennifer Shahade accused Alejandro Ramírez, a grandmaster and well-connected coach, of sexual assault. A slew of further allegations against Ramírez — and claims that the US Chess Federation had failed to act — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/alejandro-ramirez-jennifer-shahade-chess-allegations-622263b8">soon followed</a>. (Ramírez has denied the allegations.)</p><p>Shahade and I played a quick game — she smothered me, picking off my pawns until my structure crumbled — and talked. Shahade told me that, in addition to the gender imbalance, part of the issue is that chess is "complex to attack because there's so many different cultures," adding that "every country might have its own policy for safe play." Beyond that, she said, "all ages play together — which mostly is a really awesome thing about the game that we love — but unfortunately for bad actors that could be an opportunity for grooming."</p><p>And there's no easier place for bad actors to take root than in chess' most popular venue: online.</p><p class="drop-cap">More than anything else, the internet has transformed how chess is played and talked about. It has infused the 1,500-year-old game with modern video-game sensibilities and smack talk. Online chess can feel a world away from the carefully considered hourslong games of old; many modern players prefer "bullet chess," whose warp speed games take less than three minutes. Beyond Reddit hubs like the more pedantic r/Chess (1.1 million members) and the oddball, shitposting r/AnarchyChess (500,000), ground zero for chess' reimagining is video platforms like YouTube and Twitch. Dedicated chess influencers like Levy "GothamChess" Rozman (nearly 5 million YouTube subscribers) and the Botez sisters (1.5 million subscribers) offer guidance to amateurs like me, dissecting tournament games and diving into the nearly constant beef between chess celebs. Even grandmasters — historically cast as cerebral recluses — are getting in on the action. The five-time US champion Hikaru Nakamura (2.3 million subscribers) has become one of the most prolific streamers out there.</p><div type="image" title="Rey Enigma plays chess against Anna Cramling" height="683" width="1024" msid="109978342" hostid="261"></div><p>"You definitely can make in general a lot more from making content than what you can from playing competitive chess," said Anna Cramling, a fast-talking 21-year-old Swedish player with nearly 900,000 YouTube subscribers. After we chatted, we played a quick game; I timed out with no good moves open to me. All the time in the world wouldn't have made a difference.</p><p>The seedier side of internet culture has also wormed its way into chess. "The biggest downside to what I do is I don't always feel safe," Cramling said. Some of her followers, she says, are often "trying to get to know things about me." Poor sportsmanship abounds: Some players rage quit when they make mistakes, try to "stall" their opponents, or abort games if they don't get to play as white. Chat rooms are full of normalized abuse, often sexual or racist. Sometimes dark behavior bleeds out beyond the screen: In late 2023, Nakamura said the police had <a target="_blank" href="https://kick.com/gmhikaru?clip=clip_01HGP490KWBC8473KX5F71RV06">turned up at his home</a> after someone tried to "swat" him.</p><p>But is playing online as fulfilling as playing over the board? As I explored, I kept up a steady stream of middling games on <a target="_blank" href="http://Chess.com">Chess.com</a> — my Elo rating slowly rising — but wanted a more immersive experience. I decided to devote an entire day to playing bullet chess.</p>          <p>In the version I played, a 1:1 time control, each player was allotted one minute total for the entire game plus one additional second per move. My first game went beautifully: excellent piece development, no big mistakes, and a neat checkmate. During game two, I started to feel a little frantic. By hour two, the games were blurring into one another — aching hands, no time for strategy, just vibes. When I took a break for a virtual doctor's appointment, I was seized with a compulsion to fill out the intake forms at blitzkrieg speed.</p><p>I had a breakthrough when I switched up the time control. Now I was playing just a flat minute per player, no additional time. Suddenly I was winning clearly lost games because I was just a bit faster on the draw. All I had to do was hide my king in the corner and make my structure just convoluted enough, and I'd win by default as my opponents timed out. It was a lightning-fast game of pattern recognition and counterstrike reflexes, and totally unconducive to improving my actual chess skills.</p><p>Eight hours later, I was 150 games down and completely exhausted. It was time to log off.</p><p class="drop-cap">Out in the world, chess' resurgence has been accompanied by a wave of new clubs and events.</p><p>In April 2023, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/04/15/school-chess-class-clubs/">The Washington Post reported</a> that chess was causing an "epidemic of student distraction." In Berkeley, California, a controversial unlicensed street club has become a flash point for debates about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.berkeleyside.org/2023/10/06/students-community-defend-telegraph-chess-tables-berkeley-city-council">gentrification</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2023-10-04/article/50429?headline=The-City-of-Berkeley-Makes-a-Pawn-of-the-Chess-Club---Steve-Martinot">police brutality</a>. When I visited, I was bested by a guy who I suspected was extremely high and who got up to dance to Bill Withers between moves.</p><p>A couple months into my chess journey, I was in New York City for the week. I made a pilgrimage to the Marshall Chess Club, a 109-year-old institution in Greenwich Village.</p>          <p>Inside, rows of players sat in perfect silence as the bust of the club's founder, Frank Marshall, the American chess champion of 1909, frowned down at them. But my itch to play could not be scratched: The club was hosting a tournament that day, a nice man told me apologetically, for high-ranking players only. Even the youngest attendees would demolish me. "These aren't your normal kids," he said.</p><p>The following evening, I went to an East Village bar and found a very different scene at Club Chess. Beneath impressionist murals of naked women, and among candles and pumping EDM, an eclectic crowd of hipsters, skaters, and the occasional dyed-in-the-wool chess nerd mingled. There were no chess clocks in sight, and downstairs there was a full-on dance floor. It was standing room only. Founded in 2023 by Alexander Luke Bahta — who spent the evening swanning around, tailed by a photographer and reporter for a lifestyle blog — Club Chess has been described by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/sep/13/new-york-gen-z-chess-clubs">The Guardian</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.curbed.com/article/club-chess-maneros-of-mulberry.html">New York magazine</a> as the epicenter of chess' ascendance in nightlife.</p><p>I played a young Canadian mycologist in an evenly matched game that she ultimately resigned. Then came a wiry Romanian in athleisure — Elo rating 2200, extremely good — who inexorably ground me down, trapping one of my bishops and stomping through my pawn structure. Afterward I watched him play the burly security guard and checkmate him barely a dozen moves in. The bouncer "plays unconventionally," the Romanian said diplomatically.</p><p>"That guy's a monster," the bouncer told me later.</p><p>With work looming the next day, I left the party, still going strong, at about 11 p.m., feeling rejuvenated. It had been chess at its purest and most freeing — no scores or internet trash talk to be found.</p><p class="drop-cap">If you've heard anything about chess in the past couple of years, it's probably been about anal beads.</p><p>In 2022, the world champion Magnus Carlsen accused the grandmaster Hans Niemann, chess' enfant terrible, of cheating in a tournament. What followed was a breathless debate (not by Carlsen) over whether Niemann had managed this with a device hidden in a particularly intimate part of his body.</p><div type="image" title="Chess tournament" height="683" width="1024" msid="109978343" hostid="261"></div><p>The consensus among serious chess players is that the specific allegation is absurd, but paranoia about cheating pervades the game, from grandmasters playing in tournaments to amateurs whacking away at each other online. <a target="_blank" href="http://Chess.com">Chess.com</a> bans 90,000-odd <a target="_blank" href="https://www.chess.com/fair-play#fair-play-numbers">players every month for cheating</a>.</p><p>I understand why. I've cheated at chess.</p><p>Years ago I periodically played online against a college buddy. He beat me, a lot. So in one or two games, purely out of curiosity, I booted up a chess engine, plugged in the moves he made, responded with the computer-determined optimal moves, and won handily. I told him promptly what I'd done. But there was also a prurient little thrill to winning, no matter how undeserved. And I'm hardly the only one who feels this way.</p>          <p>Chess is an extraordinarily easy game to cheat at. Computer programs have handily beaten human players ever since Deep Blue versus Kasparov in 1997. And there's no easy remedy. At the most basic level, there's the risk of people copying computer moves by rote, but that's relatively straightforward to detect. For more sophisticated players, cheating on a single move at the right moment is sometimes enough to give them the edge. Even just a signal — a cough, a gesture, a vibration — that their seemingly innocuous next move will actually be critical, even if they're not told what the right move is, can be enough to make a player slow down and find the pathway to the (ill-gotten) win.</p><p>Hence a constant fear of cheaters and a string of minor scandals. The former world champion Vladimir Kramnik has in recent years repeatedly cast aspersions on other high-profile players, including Nakamura. (<a target="_blank" href="http://Chess.com">Chess.com</a> subsequently said it investigated "dozens of players" whose play Kramnik had questioned and found no evidence "in the vast majority of cases.") The grandmaster Fabiano Caruana <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADK1o1sZ0s0">said in a recent interview</a> that he'd "bet a lot" that someone in the top 10 players had cheated at some point.</p><p>The concern can taint players' enjoyment of the game.</p><p>"It just sucks because you're trying your hardest — but it kind of doesn't matter because you're just playing god, essentially," said Dan Timbrell, a 33-year-old working in machine learning in the Netherlands. "You are pulling your heart and soul into really trying to win a game, and then you just realize it is just punching a brick wall."</p><p class="drop-cap">Over four months, I played a shit ton of chess, and I learned a lot by being summarily beaten by nearly every person I talked to. But I also felt more and more burned out by the game. I found myself constantly fretting about my Elo rating. It distracted from what actually mattered: the chess.</p><p>Chess is a notoriously brutal game for the ego. If you lose, it's simply because you weren't good enough. Chess is a skill that can be learned, like any other, but that doesn't stop people online from discussing ad nauseam whether there's a correlation between chess prowess and IQ. Add internet-tracked Elo ratings, and you've got a potent recipe for an inferiority complex.</p><p>As a 27-year-old musician in New York City who got into chess after watching "The Queen's Gambit," told me: "You either make good moves or bad moves. So it's very easy to say, 'Oh my, I've made a terrible move — I'm so stupid.'"</p><p>I could relate. When I was playing online, I began gravitating toward anonymous, logged-out games — a far more relaxed affair.</p><p>Chess' problems aren't unique. But it is uniquely positioned to act as an accelerant for the internet's worst impulses: sexism, abuse, cheating, elitism, and toxic nerdery. It's a far cry from what Juliana Gallin described to me as "the stunning, breathtaking beauty and magic of chess." My most memorable chess experiences, the places where I encountered that magic, weren't online. They were playing in the crowded thrill of Club Chess in New York, or trading pieces with a buddy over a gin and tonic in a Lake Tahoe cabin, or battling it out in the cafeteria of a Russian bathhouse in San Francisco.</p><p>As I was wrapping up this story, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26174PF9Gmw">YouTube recommended me a video by ChessPage1</a>, a janky instructional channel. At the high levels, the robotic-sounding voice said, players need an encyclopedic knowledge of openings and theory and a grand strategy to execute. But among us mortals, people screw up in minor ways several times a game.</p><p>"If you can be the guy who just doesn't blunder and also spots the opponent's blunders," the voice said, "you can easily become a very good chess player without having to pull off some complex mastery game plan … You don't have a game plan, your opponent doesn't have a game plan, everybody is confused. But confusion means high probability of blunders, and if you don't blunder, you will crush 99% of your opponents. Congratulations, you are now enlightened and smart." They added, "Remember, whenever you feel like you need a complex strategy, <em>just don't blunder</em>."</p><p>It's good advice for chess, and for life. If in doubt, remember that basically no one else has it figured out either. Just try not to screw up too badly.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/rob-price"><em><u>Rob Price</u></em></a><em> is a senior correspondent for Business Insider and writes features and investigations about the technology industry. His Signal number is +1 650-636-6268, and his email is </em><a target="_blank" href="mailto:rprice@businessinsider.com"><em>rprice@businessinsider.com</em></a><em>.</em></p>

Sexism, cheating, and nightclubs: inside the dark heart of modern chess

<p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Maria Emelianova</span></p><p class="caption">Carlsen took on Karjakin to decide the 2016 Championship.</p></div><p></p></div></div></strong></p><ul><li><strong>The 2018 World Chess Championship will take place in London in November.</strong></li><li><strong>Current World Champ Magnus Carlsen will take on a challenger to be decided in March in Berlin.</strong></li><li><strong>Two American players have a shot at facing Carlsen.</strong></li></ul><p><br />In 2016, Norway's Magnus Carlsen defeated Russia's Sergey Karjakin in a tight match held in New York to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/magnus-carlsen-wins-the-2016-world-championship-2016-11">claim his third World Chess Championship title</a>.</p><p>Carlsen, 27, will be going for the four-peat in London this November. It will be the climax of a big 2018, with the race to take on Magnus beginning in March with the Candidates Tournament.</p><p>For American chess fans, there will once again be a chance to root for the first US World Champ since Bobby Fischer. Fabiano Carunana, two-years younger than Carlsen and now the second-ranked player in the world, narrowly missed winning the previous Candidates, while Wesley So, a year younger than Caruana, has come on strong in the past few years and is currently world number six, residing just out side the 2800-rated club, at 2792 (both Carlsen and Caruana are rated above 2800).</p><p>Carlsen's play since his WCC win in 2016 has been up-and-down. He came back on form mid-2017, but at the London Chess Classic in December he had a mediocre performance. Caruana, meanwhile, won that event, capping a recovery that pulled his world ranking back from a low of number five.</p><h2>Both the Candidates and the World Chess Championship itself can be tough to handicap</h2><p>Younger Carlsen challengers failed to overcome the Candidates challenge as Viswanathan Anand, a six-time WCC under the current incarnation of the title, took on Carlsen twice, losing both times.</p><p>The first bout, in 2013, saw Carlsen as the contender and Candidates winner and Anand as the champ, while the rematch found Anand as an unlikely Candidates victor; many had expected the Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian to rival Carlsen.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Alina L'Ami</span></p><p class="caption">American Fabiano Caruana could be a contender.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Karjakin was also an unexpected challenger in 2016, although he played Carlsen to standstill in their 12-game classic battle before the match went to extra innings and Carlsen triumphed. Karjakin is now outside the world's top ten, but as the 2016 challenger, he's automatically included in the Candidates field.</p><p>In 2018, a lot of chess-savvy folks will be keeping an eye on Ding Liren, a Chinese GM ranked nine in the world who is leading a charge of new players from his country. As a finalist in last year's Chess World Cup (he lost to Aronian, who will also be at the Candidates), Ding will China's first shot at a WCC, if he can win the Candidates in Berlin.</p><h2>The WCC is never without controversy</h2><p>A somewhat controversial wildcard at the Candidates is 42-year-old Vladimir Kramnik, the 2000 World Champ and the choice of the WCC's organizers. Kramnik is a top-ten player, ranked number seven and rated 2787. But both Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and Hikaru Nakamura of the US are also in the top-ten, yet excluded from the Candidates due to how it's put together.</p><p>As far as the actual chess on display on 2018 goes, it could be interesting.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Screenshot via YouTube/St Louis Chess Club</span></p><p class="caption">Levon Aronian.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The current lineup of candidates has spent plenty of time facing off against each other in the Carlsen era, lessening Carlsen's early dominance through sheer exposure. This could open doors for Ding or even Shahriyar Mammadyarov, a 32-year-old Azerbaijani GM who blasted back into the top ten in 2017 and is now the number-three ranked player - and the only other member of the 2800 club.</p><p>If I were a betting man, I'd say that Aronian and Caruana have the best shots at meeting Carlsen across the board in November in London. That's because both GMs have been close to winning the Candidates in the past, and that counts for more than just something. Caruana, in fact, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fabiano-caruana-sinquefield-cup-2017-8">told me in an interview last year</a> that he's learned to pace himself better after essentially running out of gas in 2016.</p><p>Aronian is 35 and in the middle phase of his career, but he won Norway Chess in 2017 in convincing fashion, in the process capturing victories over Carlsen, Kramnik, and Karjakin at a tournament that was also packed with other Candidates contenders.</p><p>The coming year could be a breakout once for big-time chess. Carlsen has cemented himself as the champ to beat, but the third cycle of the Candidates process since he won his first WCC suggests a consistent cadre of young challengers could be primed to take him on for the next decade. His 2016 WCC was no walk in the park, either, so Magnus will need to play at a high level. I for one am pretty excited about what the year has in store.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-a-computer-is-thinking-when-it-plays-chess-against-you-2016-10">Here's what a computer is thinking when it plays chess against you</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

2018 is going to be a very big year in chess as Magnus Carlsen goes for a World Championship 4-peat

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Wladimir Klitschko is plotting a spectacular comeback to the sport of boxing, he told Business Insider.</li><li><a href="https://www.ringtv.com/552496-wladimir-klitschko-has-discussed-three-fight-deal-with-dazn-that-would-end-retirement/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reports earlier in the year suggested</a> the OTT platform DAZN had offered the Ukrainian $75 million to return on a three-fight deal.</li><li>He has so far rebuffed the advances, telling Business Insider if he were to fight again it would not be for the sport, or to break a jaw.</li><li>"It would be a comeback to break the record … to be the oldest heavyweight champion," he said.</li><li>Klitschko, currently 43, has to wait two years until he's older than George Foreman, who became the oldest heavyweight world title holder in 1994, aged 45.</li><li>Breaking Foreman's record would be "pretty cool," Klitschko said.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Wladimir Klitschko is plotting a spectacular comeback to a sport he once dominated, the former heavyweight champion told Business Insider.</p><p>Just four weeks ago the 43-year-old was playing chess while sitting outside on the streets of Lviv.</p><p>The strategy board game is one he has long admired, having been taught how to play by his older brother Vitali when they were children.</p><p>Klitschko would go on to befriend Vladimir Kramnik, a Russian chess grandmaster, and would even play, but lose to, Garry Kasparov, one of the greatest chess players of all time, the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f15ba6fe-5893-11e8-b8b2-d6ceb45fa9d0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Financial Times reported last year</a>.</p><p>Chess excites Klitschko because "it's a war with an army" which requires coordination, focus, and endurance, he told the FT.</p><p>Sitting at the chess table last month, Klitschko was deep in thought - he even <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B1VdbEsC_Kr/">posted a photo on Instagram</a> which showed him plotting his next move.</p><p>Speaking to Business Insider in October, he said that next move may not be in chess at all, but in a boxing ring - Klitschko is considering a blockbuster return to competitive sport.</p><p>Klitschko has been staying sharp in the ring, away from the cameras, by sparring his countryman Oleksandr Usyk, the former undisputed cruiserweight champion who made his heavyweight debut in Chicago's Wintrust Arena on October 12, retiring Chazz Witherspoon after seven rounds.</p><p>"I still got it. Can I fight? Yes. Right now I keep my options open," he said. "There is going to be no comeback to come back and to break a jaw … it's a comeback to break a record."</p><p>One of the options available to Klitschko arrived earlier this year as the market-disrupting OTT platform DAZN, described by Bloomberg as <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-01-16/espn-s-ex-president-wants-to-build-the-netflix-of-sports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Netflix of sport</a>, attempted to lure the Ukrainian back to boxing with a handsome three-fight deal worth $75 million, according to reports in <a href="https://www.ringtv.com/552496-wladimir-klitschko-has-discussed-three-fight-deal-with-dazn-that-would-end-retirement/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Ring</a> and <a href="https://www.boxingnewsonline.net/boxing-news-at-five-klitschko-linked-to-60-million-three-fight-deal-charlo-acquitted-in-domestic-violence-case-bute-retires/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boxing News</a>.</p><p>So far, Klitschko has rebuffed any effort to end his retirement. But he told Business Insider it's not about the money - if Klitschko were to come back, it would be to try and break one of the toughest records in heavyweight boxing.</p><p>At 43, he has only two years to wait until he could challenge for a world title in a fight that, should he win, would see him become the oldest heavyweight champion in history, breaking a record that the former two-time world heavyweight champion George Foreman set when he won a world title aged 45 in 1994.</p><p>"Is it appealing? I would say yeah, it's pretty cool. George Foreman did it. He was 45 I believe when he became champion, and it's a pretty cool statement."</p><h2>Wladimir Klitschko is living his best life in retirement</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><p>Klitschko has been living his best life since he passed the torch to Anthony Joshua in 2017, losing an up-and-down slobberknocker to a hulking fighter 13 years his junior in a title fight for the ages.</p><p>Joshua's star grew, but Klitschko shined in defeat before announcing his retirement and going out to see the world. He travelled by a bullet train in China so sophisticated he called it a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdnp1x6ANEu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"time machine</a>," he <a href="https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/wladimir-klitschko-former-boxer-poses-for-a-photo-on-the-news-photo/857886252?adppopup=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">golfed at the famous Old Course</a> in St Andrews, Scotland, and he <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B187_ySipMr/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">built the 11 Mirrors boutique hotel</a> in Kiev.</p><p>Klitschko has a doctorate degree in sports science and speaks four languages fluently - Ukrainian, Russian, German, and English. Even after he had achieved so much in sport, as a 1996 gold medalist at the Olympic Games and a long-reigning heavyweight boxing champion, Klitschko was never going to spend his time idling in his post-fight career.</p><p>He's a thinker and a doer. He studies subjects and gives seminars. And with the Klitschko family name deeply embedded in politics - Vitali is the Mayor of Kiev - you can ask Wladimir a question about anything and he will have an answer, regardless of whether that's climate change, Brexit from a European's perspective, or the prevalence of doping in the combative sports.</p><p>For Klitschko, every decision is about consequences - what they are, and how drastic and devastating they could be.</p><p>"Definitely, the world is changing," Klitschko said. "Digitalization changes the world, makes it smaller. These topics are very important to stress, there are changes that human beings have been making that are not respectful to Mother Nature. The consequences, there are always consequences."</p><p>Klitschko spoke of the need to find cleaner fuel and to use alternative energies through entrepreneurship, energies that would maintain or protect the planet rather than destroy it. "It cannot last forever if we disrespectfully treat Mother Nature," he said. Knowing the consequences of our actions on this planet can motivate people to make the world better, Klitschko said.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><p>On Britain's future role outside the European Union, Klitschko said he believes people and countries are stronger and achieve more when working together, rather than by operating in isolation.</p><p>"Spread out your fingers on your hand and try to punch through the wall … your fingers are going to spread out. Your fingers represent countries," he said.</p><p>"You put your fingers together and you have the shape of a fist, which is a good way to punch through any challenge in life, and through a wall of problems.</p><p>"You can do better with a fist when the fingers are united and come together when needed. Every country is dependent but united in other ways, a union in this case.</p><p>"I'm for Britain staying in the European Union. Understand politics and politicians, sometimes people don't understand what they're voting for. They don't study what is good or gained, the consequences of Brexit, again, speaking of consequences.</p><p>"You can't just be an island, separating yourself. You need to be part of the world. It's better when you're united with other allies and not just standing by yourself. That's just my opinion, like it or not, that's just what I think about it."</p><h2>Today's heavyweight division is riddled with substance abuse</h2><p>There must also be consequences for heavyweight boxers who dope, according to Klitschko.</p><p>Five of the current top 10 active heavyweight boxers on Boxrec, a record-keeper for boxing, have tested positive for at least one banned substance in recent years.</p><p><strong>Here they are:</strong></p><ol><li>Tyson Fury, ranked 5th by Boxrec, <a href="https://ukad.org.uk/news/article/UKAD-and-Mr-Tyson-Fury-and-Mr-Hughie-Fury-issue-joint-statement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tested positive for nandrolone</a> in 2017.</li><li>Alexander Povetkin, ranked 6th by Boxrec, <a href="https://www.espn.co.uk/boxing/story/_/id/18810394/alexander-povetkin-suspended-indefinitely-fined-250000-wbc-performance-enhancing-drug-violations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tested positive for meldonium</a> in 2016.</li><li>Dillian Whyte, ranked 7th by Boxrec, <a href="https://www.boxingscene.com/dillian-whyte-tests-positive-banned-substance--141178" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tested positive for methylhexaneamine in 2012 and for "one or more banned substances"</a> in 2019.</li><li>Luis Ortiz, ranked 8th by Boxrec, <a href="https://www.espn.co.uk/boxing/story/_/id/11745451/heavyweight-luis-ortiz-tested-positive-steroid-wake-winning-interim-title" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tested positive for nandrolone in 2014</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/42201920" target="_blank" rel="noopener">for the banned diuretics chlorothiazide and hydrochlorothiazide</a> in 2017.</li><li>Jarrell Miller, ranked 9th by Boxrec, <a href="https://www.espn.co.uk/boxing/story/_/id/26561763/big-baby-miller-failed-three-drug-tests" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tested positive for human growth hormone (HGH), EPO, and GW1516</a> in 2019.</li></ol><p>"The technology has improved on both sides to find something in your system and also to use supplements that will probably not show on the doping list," Klitschko said.</p><p>"We've seen that on a governmental level in Russia with the Olympics. It has been out there, present, and … I don't think it's any good for the sport.</p><p>"Definitely, I am for consequences, again, speaking of consequences. I am for tougher, harder, consequences."</p><p>Miller is boxing's highest-profile doper of 2019 because of three dirty tests in a row, actions which scuppered a summer showdown against Anthony Joshua. Miller was eventually replaced by Andy Ruiz Jr.</p><p>Though Miller missed out on the opportunity to beat Joshua, he has hardly been punished. Bloody Elbow reported on Tuesday that <a href="https://www.badlefthook.com/2019/10/29/20938070/jarrell-miller-next-fight-end-2019-heavyweight-boxing-news" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Miller will likely fight again before the end of the year</a>.</p><p>Klitschko said that rather than give those who dope a slap on the wrist, they should be hit with a lifetime ban. "If you're an athlete in boxing who will possibly think about enhancing the performance, you can hurt yourself because you can absorb more punishment without going down. You could die from the shots you've been taking due to doping lasting 12 rounds, it doesn't mean it's good for you.</p><p>"It's not good if you're going to execute your fighting plan and you have doped and destroyed another person's life, in the worst case."</p><p>He went on: "Boxing must be straight and the consquences must be higher. If the consequences are okay you might think about [doing] it. If it's a lifelong ban you better think twice about it."</p><p>The way performance-enhancing drugs has polluted heavyweight boxing in Klitschko's absence does not put him off a potential comeback, though.</p><h2>Klitschko is targeting one of the toughest records in boxing</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><p>At an October event to benefit The Buoniconti Fund to cure paralysis, Klitschko was honored as a legend amongst other notable athletes like the former three-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade, the NFL Hall of Famer Ed Reed, and MLB World Series champion Cashe Utley.</p><p>"Since I officially became a legend, it's … a funny feeling," Klitschko said of being honored in New York City. "I'm too young to be a legend, that's the kind of feeling I have. Being a legend seemed to me to be someone else, not me. Much older, not me. Then eventually, boom. But it was a nice experience."</p><p>Klitschko, though apparently modest about a legend status in the fight game, is happy to tell you he's the most successful heavyweight of all time in terms of achievement.</p><p>He holds the record for the longest cumulative heavyweight title reign of all time having spent 4,382 days as a heavyweight world champion, defeating 23 opponents in world title fights, the most in boxing history.</p><p>A technical and intelligent athlete with a mighty record of 64 wins against five losses, Klitschko was renowned for a good jab and a hammer of a right hand which helped him deliver stategic knockouts. Klitschko hasn't fought since 2017 but is looking to fight his 70th bout in two years' time.</p><p>"Money is important, but what is more important at the end of the day is the memories that you collect, experiences that you've made," he said. "I've been in boxing for 27 years, almost three decades of my life. The world is bigger, life is short, there is more to experience."</p><p>Klitschko, perhaps surveying his future like pieces on a chessboard, is keeping his options open. He said he has no time to arrange press conference now or in two weeks, but the consequences of one last title tilt in two years? That's checkmate.</p><p>"Will I come back just to come back in sport, no. No interest. But to break the record? Extravaganza."</p><p><strong>Read more:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-josh-taylors-eye-show-how-gruelling-boxing-is-2019-10?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Photos of Josh Taylor's horrific eye injury show how gruelling and unforgiving boxing can be, even when you win</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-training-with-conor-mcgregor-2019-10?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Conor McGregor recently surprised beginner boxers by taking over their lesson, shouting at them, and showing them how to punch</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-michael-conlan-boxing-revenge-next-fight-2019-10?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ireland's next top boxer has a rare shot at retribution after losing at the Olympics because of a 'fixed' fight: 'It's personal for my career, my legacy'</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/carl-frampton-wants-to-be-irelands-greatest-boxer-2019-10?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A second successive loss could finish Carl Frampton, but he fights to be called Ireland's greatest boxer: 'It's make or break'</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/conor-mcgregor-still-worlds-best-fighter-john-kavanagh-says-2019-10?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Conor McGregor's coach still thinks he's the best fighter in the world despite his heavy beating by Khabib Nurmagomedov</a></p><div>    </div>

Wladimir Klitschko is plotting a spectacular boxing comeback, and he wants to break an old heavyweight record

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Ray Morris-Hill</span></p><p class="caption">The first-round game between Magnus Carlsen and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave ended in a draw.</p></div><p></p></div></div>The <a href="http://www.londonchessclassic.com/">London Chess Classic</a> in underway in England and will continue until Dec. 13. This is one of the chess world's premier events, usually attracting all the top players, but this year it's extra-special.</p><p>That's because it's the culmination of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-important-chess-tournament-in-us-history-is-about-to-kick-off-in-st-louis-2015-8">Chess Grand Tour</a>, a brand-new, high-level <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-worlds-top-chess-players-have-just-formed-a-new-1-million-professional-tour-2015-4">$1-million series</a> of tournaments. The tour kicked off at the beginning of the year with Norway Chess, played in the home country of current World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen (it was won by former World Champion Veselin Topalev of Hungary). Over the summer, the tour pulled into St. Louis and the center of American chess, the Chess Club and Scholastic Center, for the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/something-incredibly-rare-happened-at-the-biggest-chess-tournament-in-us-history-2015-9">Sinquefield Cup</a>, won by Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian.</p><p>Going into London, <a href="http://grandchesstour.com/tour-standings">no obviously winner for the Big Title has come to the fore</a>, although the US number one and world number 3 Hikaru Nakamura has finished third in the first two events and is now in second overall. Carlsen is in third overall, while <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-is-about-to-become-a-chess-powerhouse-thanks-to-this-22-year-old-2015-5">Fabiano Caruana</a> - a young player often named as a future Carlsen challenger for the world title - is pretty far back in the field, in eighth place.</p><p>The London event is hugely important because it represents the culmination of the the first serious effort to bring all the best chess players in the world together for a big-money contest that can signal a challenge to the World Championship cycle, which commences early next year with the Candidates Tournament. The winner of that event will face Carlsen to battle for the World Championship. The past two times around, it's been won by former World Champ Vishy Anand of India, who's also in the Grand Chess Tour field.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Alina L'Ami</span></p><p class="caption">Fabiano Caruana, a young American challenger to Carlsen.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Corruption</h2><p>Many chess experts and observers consider the World Championship, as it's currently managed by chess's governing body, FIDE, to be a deeply corrupt affair that's controlled by the Russian chess elite and cronies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.</p><p>The Grand Chess Tour, meanwhile, was organized in part by former World Champ Garry Kasparov, and of course we all know how he feels about Putin. He also ran for President of FIDE in 2014 and was beaten out by incumbent <span>Kirsan Ilyumzhinov</span>. So he moved forward with his efforts to create in the WCT a viable alternative to the WCC. Although he won't specifically cast what he's up to in those terms. The WCC after all is a multi-game affair (as FIDE now operates it) with only two player duking it out over several weeks. The WCT is tournament chess, but because it covers three events and puts the top guys over the board repeatedly, it's designed to find out who the best player is over a given span of time.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Chess Club &amp; Scholastic Center of St. Louis</span></p><p class="caption">Kasparov of GM Nigel Short announcing the Grand Chess Tour.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>I spoke to Kasparov around the time of the Sinquefield Cup - named for retired financier Rex Sinquefield, who is almost singlehandedly transforming St. Louis into a global mecca for chess - and he seemed delighted at how the Tour was coming together. His ultimate stated goal is to professionalize the game, along the lines of other big-time sports, and attract the types of major sponsors who want nothing to do with the WCC cycle. </p><p><span>"Garry does have an agenda, and it's very clearly not with the establishment," said Grandmaster Maurice Ashley, a chess commentator and tournament organizer, when I spoke with him during the Sinquefield Cup.</span></p><h2><span>Slow times in London Town</span></h2><p>So far, the London tournament has started off in slow fashion. Two rounds in, only the young Dutch GM Anish Giri has won a game. The rest have been draws. </p><p>A lot of chess observers complain that there are too many draws in top-level chess. However, some of the draws can be chalked up to the ability of players to extensively study and prepare openings that are by their nature drawish.</p><p>That's what happened in Round 2, in a game between Carlsen and Caruana. Every major encounter between these two is closely watched as a potentially preview of a future WCC.</p><p>Carlsen was playing white, and he opened with the the deeply studied Ruy Lopez, one of the Cadillac openings at the GM level. I've <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/magnus-carlsen-is-in-great-shape-after-game-1-of-the-world-chess-championship-2014-11">covered the Ruy Lopez before</a>, but briefly, you can see that white uses his bishop to challenge black's knight on the c6 square. The idea is straightforward: white wants to (possibly) trade the bishop for the knight, inflicting doubled pawns on black on the c-file, a liability if all the pieces are traded off and the battle goes into an endgame. </p><p>Other stuff can happen, however. And at GM level play, rather than black accepting white's plan and taking on the doubled pawns, he can employ the Berlin Defense by playing his knight out to f6. For GMs, this move now sends the game in a drawish direction, thanks the the efforts of Vladimir Kramnik, who was credited with using the Berlin as a "drawing weapon" as black in his 2000 World Championship match against Kasparov.</p><p>And here we see it yet again in the Carlsen-Caruana game in London:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>ChessBase</span></p><p class="caption">The Berlin Defense.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>I honestly don't know why anyone plays the Berlin against Carlsen, because the World Champ is such a fantastic endgame player. And wouldn't you know it, after 30 moves he managed to make things interesting, by getting his d-pawn all the way up the board to the d6 square, where, guarded by the white king, it function like a dagger into black's position. The risk for Carlsen is that his king is exposed to a back-rank checkmate, boxed in by a defensive screen of three pawns.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>ChessBase</span></p><p class="caption">How to deal with that white d-pawn?</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Caruana has to play sharp chess to deal with the threat, which he did, eventually finding a way to create a perpetual check on the white king by sacrificing a rook. </p><h2>Carlsen's pattern</h2><p>The thing to note about this game is that Carlsen is developing a pattern in ostensibly drawish openings, at last as far as I can tell. He strives to create an advanced pawn, forcing black in this case with the Berlin to make a lot of very accurate decisions at a point in the game when the calculations are difficult and time pressure could be building up. In fact, in a lot of the games of Carlsen that I've looked at over the past year or so, he's jammed a pawn into his opponent's position and compelled the other guy to figure out how to deal with it. </p><p>This isn't really a subtle thing to do, but it does allow Carlsen to avoid falling into some the theoretical battles that don't always work out in his favor - for example, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/anand-crushes-carlsen-and-wins-game-3-of-the-world-chess-championship-2014-11">this game against Anand in the most recent WCC</a>.</p><p>Regardless, I'm still pretty depressed whe I see an 1. e4 e5 opening that heads for the Ruy and the Berlin in GM play. I'd much rather see 1. d4 with a Queen's Gambit Declined setup, a very positional and strategic choice that can nonetheless lead to some beautiful chances for white; or a good old-fashioned Sicilian Defense from black, with 1... c5 played to counter 1. e4. </p><p>And, interestingly, the only player in London who has gone for the Sicilian this far was Carlsen, in round one against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France. But that game ended in a draw.</p><p>Anyway, stay tuned. In about a week, we'll have a Grand Chess Tour Champ who can (maybe) stand up next to the World Champ. And he may be the same guy!</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/police-officers-buy-boy-xbox-2015-12">Police officers bought an 11-year-old boy a brand new Xbox after his was stolen</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="gzdXRieTpef9qyyVxdrzXzAcb0w-l130" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

The most important chess tournament in decades is happening right now in London

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>In Game 6 of the World Chess Championship in Sochi, Russia, challenger Viswanathan Anand of India missed a crucial opportunity to snatch a win from Magnus Carlsen, the champ from Norway. </p>
<p>Anand never recovered on Saturday and went from holding a draw with the black pieces to melting into a puddle of defeat. </p>
<p>It was one of <em>those</em> moments: when the entire game turned, literally, on one move. The shocking thing is that it was Carlsen who made the critical mistake - but Carlsen who benefitted from Anand's inability to punish him for it.</p>
<p>The consensus among the commentators for the official online broadcast (especially Grandmaster Peter Svidler and former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik) was that Anand was shattered psychologically over the board and would not be able to bounce back to keep Carlsen at bay. </p>
<p>That's the way it turned out. But I'm not sure that this spells the beginning of the end for Anand, who now trails by 2.5-3.5 points (a win is worth a full point). It could spell the beginning of...the beginning. A comeback inside what is already a comeback for Anand.</p>
<p>But the challenger now has a <em>huge</em> hill to climb.</p>
<p><strong>BLUNDER!</strong></p>
<p>If you've been following my recaps of the World Chess Championship so far, you know that I've been trying to make the action as lucid and easy-to-follow as possible. Chess is a great game at all levels, but there's this notion that the elite players, Super Grandmasters like Anand and Carlsen, live on a different planet. </p>
<p>Untrue. They play with 32 black and white pieces on a 64-square board, just like everybody else. It's just that have an incredibly sophisticated understanding of a game that's been studied for centuries. And like professional athletes in other sports, they know how to compete. It is their life and their livelihood, after all.</p>
<p>With just a bit of basic knowledge, however, it's possible to follow a Grandmaster game. </p>
<p>And sometimes, Grandmasters do things that are very...un-Grandmaster-ish.</p>
<p>It's rare that I can distill an entire GM game to a single move, but in Game 6, the whole contest came down to a single position on the board. Here it is:</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p class="source"><span>ChessBase</span></p><p class="caption">Carlsen move Kd2 was a massive blunder.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>If you've read my previous recaps, you'll be familiar with the "Sicilian Defense," an aggressive response by black to white most aggressive initial move: 1. e4. White moves the pawn in front on his king forward two squares. In the Sicilian, black responds not by matching white's move with 1....e5, but rather plays the asymmetrical 1....c5. </p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>The "unbalanced" initial position gives black a good chance to win the game, rather than simply playing for a draw. The important thing to note here is that because white gets to move first, white is always statistically winning - between two great players, black can spend a lot of time playing catch-up, and in many styles of play, never pull it off. </p>
<p>The Sicilian announces that black isn't going to follow white but is instead going to rock-and-roll with his own plans. </p>
<p>I've argued that Anand needs to play the Sicilian as black against 1. e4 - he needs to shoot for wins on both sides of the board. And he's now quickly played c5 twice against Carlsen's King's Pawn opening. </p>
<p>There is a problem, however, which is that Carlsen knows the Sicilian as well as anyone, although Anand is regarded as having a much deeper understanding of so-called "opening theory" - the first 10-15 moves of the game. The two Sicilians so far have resulted in very complex positions where neither side is dominating. The overriding goal, absent something dramatic, has been to nurture incremental improvements: move by move by move.</p>
<p>Which is what they did in Game 6.</p>
<p>And then Carlsen made a dreadful move.</p>
<p>In chess, this is called a "blunder." And in Carlsen's case, if Anand had spotted it, Carlsen might have resigned on the spot, or after a few more moves. The situation currently is tough for Anand: because Anand started with white in Game 1, Carlsen now gets two games in a row as white: Games 6 and 7. Nabbing a win would have put Anand into a great position headed into the second half of the match.</p>
<p>But Anand didn't spot Carlsen's blunder. And because he didn't spot it - but realized his error quite quickly - he had to play the rest of the game in a sort of grim fog of understanding: that he had a nearly impossible chance to take a lead in his unlikely effort to reclaim the title that Carlsen took from his last year, and at the moment of truth, he blew it.</p>
<p>The rest of the game was a death march. It was unpleasant to watch.</p>
<p>What happened is that Carlsen moved his king one square: from c1 to d2. Here's the position again:</p>
<p> <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p class="source"><span>ChessBase</span></p><p class="caption">Carlsen move Kd2 was a massive blunder.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>In top-level chess, catastrophes flow from such seemingly innocuous little moves that are actually monumental blunders.</p>
<p>Prior to this move, the position on the board represented a tense struggle, with both players essentially even. The action, such as it was, was on the g- and h-files: rooks against rooks, the black knight unable to do much, and Anand's main source of concern the fate of his lone pawn on the h-file.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">But then Carlsen made the move Kd2 on move 26 of the game. </span></p>
<p>Anand suddenly had the chance to use his stuck knight on g6, to devastating effect. </p>
<p>He could have taken the pawn on e5, creating a "discovered attack" on the white rook on g4. But it would also have been a "double attack," with the knight hitting the pawn on c4 and rook on g4 - and the rook on g4 is attacked <em>twice,</em> by both the black knight and the black rook. </p>
<p>Carlsen could take the knight that's now on e5 with the rook on h5, but then Anand would be able to take the rook on g4 with the black rook on g8: the math of the exchange would be in black's favor, as Anand would have picked up a pawn and rook for the loss of a knight. </p>
<p>So Carlsen has to take the rook on g8, but here's where it gets wild: before Anand takes back with the black rook on h8, he has an in-between move.</p>
<p>The <em>best kind of in between move</em> - he can take <em>another </em>pawn, the one on c4, and he can do it while putting the white king in check. </p>
<p>When you can take a piece for free, and do it with check, it's usually worth it. The black knight can't be retaken, so Carlsen has to move his king out of check, and then Anand can take the rook. He will probably lose the knight, but he's gained two pawns and a rook. He could have translated this into a decisive advantage. </p>
<p>In the press conference after the game, when asked what he felt when he realized what he had done with his blunder, Carlsen used one word.</p>
<p><em>Panic.</em></p>
<p><strong>BLUNDER BACK!</strong></p>
<p>But Anand, who's regarded as a tactical genius, missed a tactic that he probably would have seen in a nanosecond if not for the immense pressure of the World Championship.</p>
<p>He moved his pawn on the a-file one square forward. You'll notice that the queens are off the board, so one of the key goals that the players have is to get their pawns close to their opponents back rank, so that a pawn can be promoted to a queen. Anand's game plan was to eliminate that pawn on a2 and get his own pawn home.</p>
<p>So he saw the white king moving off and he pressed forward. At the board, he even thought about it for a minute or so. </p>
<p>But it was the wrong move, and he then proceeded to fall apart, resigning after 38 moves. A dead loss for Carlsen became a win for the 23-year-old Norwegian. </p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p><strong>NOW WHAT?</strong></p>
<p>No one expects this kind of thing to happen in a chess match at this level. When it does, it's sort of incomprehensible - like discovering a portal to a different dimension where everything is anguish and agony and pain and defeat. </p>
<p>Cruel game.</p>
<p>Anand is fortunate that Sunday is a rest day. He can pull himself together. He is a grown man, 44 years old, and a chess player of the highest caliber. He's screwed up before.</p>
<p>Carlsen can consider himself massively lucky and try to convert that into victory. In the context of chess at his and Anand's level, Carlsen basically stole a game. But to his credit, he obviously has Anand under so much stress that the former World Champion isn't playing moves that much lesser competitors might see in an instant.</p>
<p>Anand can take solace in one thing and one thing only: for Carlsen to blunder so badly on such a big stage, the younger man has to be even more out-of-form than he looked coming into the match.</p>
<p>Anand won no games last year.</p>
<p>He should have won two by this point in the rematch.</p>
<p>That's cold comfort for Anand, but things are starting to get crazy at the World Chess Championship. Very, very crazy.</p>
<p>You can watch a replay of Game 6 <a href="http://www.sochi2014.fide.com/video-archive/">here</a>.</p>
<p>And you can <a href="http://en.chessbase.com/post/sochi-g6-carlsen-won-anand-missed-big-chance">review the game at ChessBase</a>.</p>

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